Widows (2018): A tense & intelligent repacking of a 1980s TV classic (Review)

Growing up as I did in the 1980s, I well remember the original Widows –  Lynda La Plante’s 1983 miniseries about four women who have no option but to follow in the footsteps of their late husbands and partners and into a life of crime. It starred Ann Mitchell (now better known for playing Cora Cross in EastEnders and, even more recently, Elsie Dyer, the backstreet abortionist grandmother of one of the regulars in Sunday night drama Call the Midwife) as the tough-as-nails leader of the gang, Dolly Rawlins and featured a stand-out performance from Eva Mottley (who tragically died just two years later from an overdose of barbiturates and alcohol) as Bella O’Reilly, the black streetwise striptease artist. The fact that Mottley’s race was neither driving her character nor really addressed or referred to by anyone, marked La Plante’s writing out as something special and I maintain that, along with the first Prime Suspect, it is one of the best things she’s ever written.

Unlike Prime Suspect however, the women of Widows were on the wrong side of the law; something that is still a USP to this day.  Produced by Euston Films, Widows boasted the same authentic grit the production company had brought to their other big hitters like The Sweeney and Minder, never once sanitising or softening their style simply because this happens to be about women. La Plante set about changing ideas of traditional feminine stereotypes, reflecting the turning tide of gender (and racial) inequality. It’s a gauntlet that has been picked up by former 1990s Young British Artist and director of Hunger and 12 Years a Slave, Steve McQueen, and Gone Girl author Gillian Flynn and, the fact that McQueen has chosen to remake this with several black actors taking roles that were previously played by white performers (with Viola Davis taking the role of Veronica Rawlins, based on Ann Mitchell’s Dolly) feels like a logical step forward given the framework La Plante initially laid down.

Effortlessly relocating the action from the early ’80s London’s East End to modern day Chicago, director Steve McQueen and his co-writer Gillian Flynn dispense with several characters and storylines, adding several of their own in a way that actually improves upon the original. The inclusion of the political storyline – with Colin Farrell’s battle to keep control of the impoverished 18th district over Brian Tyree Henry’s would-be reformed gangster – may feel a bit like The Wire, but it adds both a greater topicality to the story, along with a much greater depth to Tyree Henry and Daniel Kaluuya’s brothers than the cardboard Kray twins that the original offered; with Kaluuya’s natural dead-eyed menace proving especially intimidating.  Indeed, unlike most blockbuster thrillers, Widows genuinely feels like it has something to say, with McQueen and Flynn’s take on La Plante’s gender subversion of your typical late 70s/early 80s London-set crime story becoming something akin to a Great American Drama of Our Times; inequality, opportunity, racism, misogyny, poverty, corruption, violence and greed, it’s all there.

The central crux of the plot remains unchanged. Armed robber Harry Rawlings (played here by Liam Neeson who, in the film’s opening scene looks like a lousy kisser. Enthusiastic yes, but ugh…that’s way too much tongue, Liam. You looked like you were trying to eat Viola Davis’ face!) masterminds a disastrous heist that leads to a police shootout and the deaths of him and his gang. Left mired in their debt, the eponymous widows must put aside their differences and join forces to pull off their late spouses next planned job if they have any hope of securing a future for themselves.

McQueen pulls together a fine ensemble cast, specifically where it counts in the shape of the four female leads. The aforementioned Viola Davis is absolutely spellbinding in the central role of Veronica Rawlins, whilst the rest of the bereaved crew Linda and Alice, played by Michelle Rodriguez and Elizabeth Debicki respectively, are just as engaging, with the latter in particular delivering a memorable, standout performance that provides the film both with some glamour and comic relief. Cynthia Erivo completes the quartet as Belle; she’s somewhat softened a little from the original (she’s got the more respectable job of babysitter rather than stripper for a start) but her scenes with Davis ensure that her character still has some of the confidence and bite that the role’s originator Eva Mottley had brought to the proceedings, with the dialogue of their initial meeting lifted verbatim. The rest of the cast are similarly on-point; there’s a great, expletive-filled cameo from Robert Duvall as Colin Farrell’s father, disapproving of the way his son and heir is choosing to run his political campaign, and an eye-catching turn from the attractive Molly Kunz as Farrell’s long-suffering aide, Siobhan. Jacki Weaver plays the manipulative mother of (fellow Australian) Debicki’s Alice, whilst Carrie Coon –  who appeared in the big screen adaptation of Flynn’s Gone Girl as Ben Affleck’s sister –  co-stars here as Amanda, the one widow who doesn’t get involved in Veronica’s plans. Oh and there’s a blink and you’ll miss it cameo from the original Mrs Rawlins, Ann Mitchell, as Amanda’s mother at the funeral.

Whilst some of the beats don’t always feel like they’ve been earned and it could be argued that condensing a four-hour miniseries into a two-hour movie means that some of the characters are given much less to do and, as a result, have little depth, none of this stops Widows from being a tense, intelligent, action-packed and thought-provoking blockbuster that befits McQueen’s arthouse credentials. There are several impressive sequences, from the explosive POV opening to the decision to place a camera upon the bonnet of a car to showcase the class divide of Chicago in just one short cross-town journey, that serve to make Widows one of the better Hollywood movies of recent years, making its snubbing at the Oscars all the more bewildering really.

Of course, all that said the film is almost completely stolen by the adorable Westie dog that is routinely in the arms of Davis or loyally by her side. Where were that little beauties Oscar at least eh?

THANKS FOR READING OUR REVIEW OF WIDOWS

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